Cablegate reveals the “Axis of Delay”: Saudi Arabia, the US and Australia

The Saudi-American-Australian “Axis of delay”

I’ve not had time to muse on the climate change related leaked cables that Wikileaks is making available, however from what I can glean there a few things worth noting:

I think we can glean that by the second Bush Administration both the US and Saudis accepted the science of AGW: however there appears to be a concentrated effort to shape (if not delay) global agreements in order to protect their strategic interests

The US under Bush preferred to place their hopes on a technology fix (renewables, untested carbon capture technologies for the coal industry)and discounted the value of GHG regulation

The US appeared to work very hard to shape the climate change policies of individual nations, including such major allies as the United Kingdom, to protect the interests of industries such as aviation

What is apparent is that this trio of countries worked very hard to spoil global agreements:

The United States under the Bush Administration did not sign Kyoto and only reluctantly accepted the science

The Saudis feared GHG regulation was not in their interest

The Australians under Howard was the only other nation beside the US that did not sign Kyoto (but later ratified by Kevin Rudd)

I call this the “Axis of delay”.

Each accepted the science but worked hard to delay the regulation of green house gases and binding agreements.

Again I ask who will pay for this delay.

We will.

Our children will.

The US at odds with France and the UK

The next couple of posts will look at how the US felt challenged by the climate policies of the UK and France. Leaked cables point to strong differences between these countries, and how the US worked to shape the policies of the UK and US to protect its own interests:

The French wanted the US to take a leadership role and were frustrated that proposed US cuts to emissions did not go far enough

The US was concerned by the UK regulating greenhouse gases emitted by the aviation industry – they felt it would hurt the US aviation industry and wanted to blunt any such regulation

The US: giant climate polluter bestriding the world to shape the policies of other nations

Just the few snippets we have reveal the fact the US – especially under the Bush Administration – worked hard to mould the policies of major allies such as the UK and France to cater to the interests of American industries.

Of course the Saudis feared GHG regulation… that does not disprove the science.

It simply means the rest of the world is held to ransom by a small, but powerful theocracy/monarchy working behind the scenes to protect their own interests at the expense of the rest of the world community.

It is clear the Saudis were also pushing the US to strike Iran, possibly inciting a regional war.

Let’s also consider the funds the Saudis pour into terrorist organisations and the spreading of the Wahhabi fundamentalist strain of Islam, one has to ask just how pernicious is the influence of the Saudis?

From my perspective, it would appear Saudi foreign policy favours their own interests over the well being world’s community of nations.